This week I was nearly tempted to write a political reality post. A no holds barred wake up to reality about the BS that goes on here in the UK… However, as a lead on from my last post – look over there =====>>>> the shop is up running and ready!! Now I know my humour often has to be toned down considerably – but it transpires many of you like my often rude or quirky sayings… especially the word “Bollocks” and the interest in the mug area is quite interesting At this rate I’ll have to start a “Bollocks” store on it’s own. I’m still tweaking it, so keep and eye on it. Oh and if there’s something I’ve missed or simply does notwork – please let me know.
This week also has had me glancing at YouTube and as ever the Vlogs of Mr and Mrs Le Croix do put a smile on my face… here is a flavour of their fun and the following vid is about them.
Also the latest Boeing offering in Apache Helicopters is the AH64-D BlockIII and in true Boeing style they did one of their time-lapse high-speed videos of the first one being made. Great you would think, but you soon realise that a lot of tech goes into these things.
A strange thing happened the other day, it’s strange because I suddenly remember old tunes I used to play and had forgotten – only to remember, grab the guitar and not quite remember all the parts. In this case it was Ozzy Osbourne’s “Crazy Train”. For the most part it must have sounded like I was trying to slaughter cats with a toothbrush – such was the disturbing noise I suddenly seemed to be creating. So with that, I will go and try to remember HTML and leave you with the real version and the late yet awesome Randy Rhoads doing it properly.
This last week has been a hive of activity in the TWBrit bunker… Much of this has been around doing various amounts of artwork for a Café Press shop which is still very basic. The thing that kills me about Café Press and all of these online print shops is while for a one-off item things are “ok” in pricing – they’re unique etc… But the mark up on the basic items is practically daylight robbery!! Items like mugs cost in excess or $10 before you even put a logo on – which after a quick scout around Chinese suppliers online turn up to cost little more than 0.35c !! But then there is what will and will not work as artwork.. I did this for a fun if not crazy mug print (click to make it bigger), it looks great as a hi-def image, on the site – it looks dire… So the weekend is here and I’ll take a break from it. As and when it’s ready there will be a shop link over in the right hand column –>
Also this week, Bill Gates… Now here is a guy I have a little time for… no, not because he has more money than several countries put together (he earned it, he deserves it!!) but he did a couple of things this week; firstly he said on BBC News – he should pay more tax… Tax should feel to have the same impact on me as it does on the rest of society – it’s only fair… Well that I can respect… in another interview he told of how they had all but eradicated Polio in India – Polio (thanks to the Gates Foundation) is a heartbeat from being the 2nd ever disease to be entirely eradicated – Rockin!! Then at a south London school, students looked on with jaws hanging open as the guest speaker stepped up to talk to them – yep, the very same Bill Gates!! The guy is a friggin rock star!
I have been enjoying a blog recently, I started getting hits from somewhere in California and then some WordPress “Likes” tags…. So I went to look at Lesley Carter’s blog… and apart from a bit of baby talk, she runs a truly great blog about her travels and adventures – it’s really is enough to take your mind off the daily grind and well worth a read. I should re-do all my Blog Roll listings and include hers.
On the subject of blogs – @Ritchhh has decided to give the blogasphere a hefty kick with his new blog. Now, it’s early days and there is a little “feet finding” going on… but he’ll be kicking it real soon enough…
Big talks this week about going to SXSW… if so – when? And then how long for? And so on… It all started when Sue Black of the infamous “Mustang Sue’s Wreckin Crew” asked if and when we’re going… Well the real question is can I survive a Mustang Sue’s hard-assed partying, the other is sheer cost – we’ll see
Fenny this week sounds like she has fought on the battlefields of apprenticeships and employment… well my answer to this is – you’re only here once… kill’em all
The blogs help and hindrance @Gabsatrucker has not only chalked up some good fitness mileage of late but has also started her road in tech know-how and professionally qualified genius status – and good for her…
In other news, we had a solar storm! A large one, but not a monster thankfully, but they’re still expecting a huge one at some point. As yet, the total damage is unknown, but we’ll know soon enough… if you don’t know about solar storms – HEREis a post I did in 2009 that has been referenced by many including the media.
And last but not least – Monty Python Yep the boys are coming back to do a CGI Sci-Fi movie and I for one can’t wait!! No doubt it’ll cause offence to the weak of mind…. But who needs them anyway
Well this starts of with a pic circulating around Facebook that makes me chuckle quite a bit… The worse part is that I know people who’d probably do this… The type that would line tiles to the shape of the wall edge, not the perps etc.
Alienware have brought out an all new Desktop – the X51… and it’s a powerhouse of a machine, in fact if you want an over the counter Desktop, then I would seriously recommend these. Starting at an incredibly low £699 for Alienware X51 and rising to just under £1000 it comes packed with most high-end gaming things.. Like full Nvidia graphics, i3, i5 and i7 intel CPU’s, 1000gig HDD, and 8 gig of DDR3 ram… But that’s where the trouble starts.. You see while all components etc are designed as user upgradeable, the spec limits the Ram to 8gig… But for “Bang for Buck” off the shelf computing, it’d work in both the home gaming environment and serious office/professional use. And yep, it can sit vertically or horizontally and yes, the Alien head that lights up will turn, so you can have the head the right way up as you need. But… you can still build the same or better yourself for the price. That said – it is a standard compact desktop unit (for Alienware - this is a near miracle) and these days, that is very welcome, not to mention near silent cooling. You will read of course – morons who call this “console” sized gaming – that’s because they don’t remember using a desktop… bless’em
It has not escaped some folks that I haven’t posted on Memphis and the overall US trip… don’t worry they’re coming! I know some of the things I have said in earlier posts have been a little harsh, but hey – if you smiled at any point then my job was done.
On that note, there are some upcoming changes to the blog… I, along with other blog cohorts have managed to work out a basic criteria for future posts and as such I will backward engineering these all the way back through the hundreds of already posted pieces.
Any way… In other news: Brother and sister actors Kate HewlettandDave Hewlettwho came to fame as a duo in a Stargate Atlantis because of their perpetual and hilarious bickering, followed up with a global chat tour and the hilarious and exceptionally clever movie “A Dogs Breakfast”, have started doing small sketches over on David Hewlett’s“H0rrid” Youtube account. So with that, I’ll leave you with a bit of inter sibling bashing
Now I could go into the history of this City, the capital of Texas – but that is what Wikipediais for… so go there to read it
I on the other hand will write of my brief experience of this Oasis of a city and one I’d like to return to. Beyond the complaints of the I-35, a little known parking lot that runs the entire length of Austin. As you approach Austin at night it looks like an oasis of high-tech and modern living. Indeed, Andrew Baron of Rocketboomeven called this city “The saving grace of Texas” and for the most part I can see why.
Oh, it is an oasis… but furthermore it’s also a city of culture and has a “cosmopolitan feel” if you like. Like all modern cities though, the concept of skyscrapers in the centre have not escaped Austin, crushing much of it’s history into oblivion. Yet down there in the heart of it is the famed and acclaimed 6th Street and if you add in 4th, 5th and Congress Avenue… then there is more than a heart beat or pulse of this city’s history and entertainment right there.
These days, the area of South Austin seems to have a greater vibe, open parks, restaurants, leafy suburbs and a greater “wellbeing” feel. Something I found very attractive and yes from what I could see, it’s obvious the town planners have long term goals for making the city greener and healthier than most.
Austin like any large city has its good and bad, the first day we walked down 6th Street (2nd Jan) around 2pm and a full on brawl broke out in front of us. Two guys punching the living daylights out of each other without a care in the world of who they bounced into, or where in the world they were from.. No police presence, and while I sidestepped them as they flew past – this blogs buddy @Gabsatrucker got fully barged out of the way by them, just before skulls met the concrete sidewalk. This was certainly, how should I say… interesting… We went to Starbucks and I said “soooo, this is Austin huh?” Gabby on the other hand was really not happy either… This was on the back of the news that on New Years morning 3 people had been shot, one to death and someone was killed trying to cross the I-35… Kinda leaves you with a cheery feel… That and the fact that Austin has oh so many people begging on street corners in the 4th,5th and 6th street areas at night.
But nevertheless… there is a vibe to the city as a whole you can’t quite put your finger on, the south is awesome and the club names like Antone’s, reverberate through the music scene globally. In fact one night in Antone’s made up for a lot of the misgivings we had earlier.
Yes Austin does have it’s many sides, but it’s this mix that probably makes it so intriguing and apart from having to change hotels due to rather unpleasant smell at the first one – it is a city I will definitely spend more time to explore.
Austin also has quite a few interesting slogans “Keep Austin Weird” is something you’ll see just about everywhere and then the “Austin, Live Music Capitol of the World” and it’s fair to say they’re not wrong! It’s a city of modern culture, hi-tech industries, fitness and fresh air – heck they even name the flight between Silicon Valley and Austin the “Nerd Bird”… It also has to be right up there with as one of the biggest conference venues in the world along side cities like Dubai and with it being home to South by South West (SXSW) there are hotels galore – some better than others, but the closer you get to downtown the prices go from reasonable to extortionate.
This is one of the major centres of entrepreneurship in the US and certainly with regards to technology, but it’s frankly stunning that Dell computers does not seem to have anything for the public, nerds and geeks to visit or see… In fact I was seriously surprised there was little in the way of Dell’s visibility at all – certainly an opportunity lost on Dell’s part. A “Dell Technology Showcase” or “Experience” is seriously needed.
With so much going on I think the city will grow, continue cleaning its image. But if you want to enjoy a fitness lifestyle, then look no further than this awesome city with the Lance Armstrong cycle way, large parks and running areas and even a park on the water front with a special area to allow dogs to run freely.
Yes, it’s right to keep Austin weird, but it’s also right to redesign and build for future tourism, future-tech transportation systems and greener more hi-tech lifestyle and I really think Austin will…. Because if it doesn’t, it’ll just grow more monolithic buildings and increase its number of tourist t-shirt shops that will be more about a “has-been” city than the heart and soul of the great state of Texas… I some how doubt that will happen though
So the other day I finally went to Memphis… but more importantly for me, I went to Gibson Guitars for a tour of their factory. I had already phoned Gibson before Christmas and talked to them and decided to go when the factory restarted production in the New Year.
I’ve had a lot of questions for Gibson for a number of years, especially regarding build and play quality of the Les Paul guitars made in the early 2000’s. On arrival we entered the vast empty reception and then the shop. We looked about and then enquired about the factory tour. Moments later and $10 lighter for each of us and the tour was booked and would happen on the hour. So I spoke to a female assistant and asked her questions about the Gibson Dark Fire which is basically a robotic guitar that tunes itself in any pitch you like etc. She was amazingly informative, really, and thoroughly knew her stuff. In fact I asked her dozens of questions for which she answered all of them in depth. She also invited me to play anything they had and to feel free to try all I liked… (you don’t hear that every day) I was frankly starting to feel impressed… On the question of setup and overall quality she informed me they now use a thing called a “Plek” machine that traces the fret board and grinds the frets and the “nut” to the optimum height and “action” (the distance of the strings from the fret board). So the bottom line is: if you’re buying a new Gibson – make sure it has a “Plek’d” sticker on it. Before the tour we had to sign disclaimers to enter the factory floor, wear safety glasses and get told that absolutely no cameras are allowed and mobile phones etc. The mobile phones thing was because 90% of phones can take pics.. But this is where I started having a trouble with the tour!! We were then taken through to a long windowless corridor where, upon the wall hung loads of guitars, one of which was a hand signed version of BB King’s “Lucille”. It was here we stopped for our tour guide to explain the very basics of guitar types, their respective parts… Obviously we weren’t in any sensitive area, so why no pics of these great guitars? Now, don’t get me wrong here, you don’t want flash photography around moving machinery… but nothing of what we were about to see was anything near what you can actually see on YouTube!! In fact I’ll go further… there was only one person working in the factory putting on machine heads… So what in god’s name is so secret to prevent photography? Why do I say this? Well, I do understand when they’re working with new technology’s that they wouldn’t want others to see… And it’s kinda cool to hear over and over again “we invented (or) did this/that first” – but how the hell would anyone know if you wont let them take a pic?? But the reason I will say it is this – I live 5000 miles away.. I got more information, images and background info watching YouTube!!! I didn’t see shit being made!! I didn’t get to touch, hold, have shown how or experience fk-ALL!! THEN while the guy showing us around kept holding up things and guitar parts and waving them slowly past us – he took time out to do the same with an 8” grounding wire!! And for $10 each we all stood there like frigging morons as he took his time to show each and every one of us an 8 inch bit of wire!! I just thought ”this has got to be the ‘in’ factory joke” I even mentioned this to others there… The guide’s “patter” was perfect… then he suddenly turned and said “that concludes the tour, any questions?” which is ok for a 30 minute stroll – but then said nothing. We all looked at him blankly… I eventually asked where the hard shell cases are made – the answer was simply “in Canada”… Then more silence.. it was actually uncomfortable..
Gibson, for what you charge for guitars etc, there are thousands of things you can do to improve this tour – heck I didn’t even know it was for hollow-bodies only until we started the tour…
The lady in the Shop was totally awesome, the tour was dire. I’m not taking anything from the fact Gibson make some of the finest guitars in the world, if it has the Gibson name on it, it’s exclusive made in the USA and over 60% of everything they make is exported globally and that is testament to their craftmanship, put another way – if you listen to or play music of any type, you’ve heard of and know who Gibson is. But there was an air of real disappointment with the tour – so word up if you’re a Gibson fan, I’ll save you the time, air fare, patronization and disappointment… here is a video that will show you much, much more than anything a Gibson tour will show you. You won’t have to wear goggles, sign disclaimers, you can smoke, eat, drink and take all the pictures you like…
If I haven’t mentioned it before, Austin probably has the most diverse music history in the world… Yes, I will hear people cry “Oh what about New Orleans, London, Memphis etc… but frankly, some incredible people have emerged from this, the most diverse and cosmopolitan and capital city of Texas… It’s was after all the whole reason for the now globally famous South by South West (SXSW). But seriously though, no city I know of celebrates it’s musical origins as much as Austin.
So why do I mention this, I’m not talking about the bars, nightlife – so… what? Well Austin through the years and decades has not only had incredible artists and clubs where they cut their teeth, but it has some pretty amazing people behind the scenes too… But Austin is musically vast in its diversity, from hip-hop through to its popular and gritty Indie scene. There are just so many bands and individuals who come here to make their mark – and they do. And like with all bases of great live music, it has its own “in” scene of the time – yet Austin caters for nearly all scenes at once. Even today while many can talk about the explosive Blues scene of the 70’s and 80’s, you really don’t need to walk too far to hear those dulcet tones that are so familiar even to those do not follow it.
I have already mentioned Stevie Ray Vaughan, yet I didn’t mention his brother Jimmie Vaughan, an outstanding and highly accomplished blues player in his own right, with a very discerning style too, both of whom cut their teeth here. But you know “that” guitar… the one Fender spent a fortune on replicating for an initial rrp of $8000 and created a whole collectors dream guitar that you simply will not obtain for less than 10’s of thousands of dollars… Well Stevie Ray Vaughan bought the original guitar from a now very famous guitar shop in South Austin… Ray Hennig’s “Heart of Texas Music”… and today Ray Hennig and his family are still crucial suppliers to the entire music scene in Austin – irrespective of genre or taste. Even a Wikipedia quoted Ray on Stevie Ray Vaughan’s guitar purchase:
“ When he came in, like every other day, we had a long row of guitars and he wouldn’t take them off the hook. He’d simply walk down and feel them and look at them and move on to the next one. He stood there and looked at that old thing and I thought, oh no. Then he reached down and felt it, just like he did always. And then he took it off the hook, hitting some licks on it. He said, ‘Ray, where’d you get this?’ I said, ‘Stevie, you have got to have picked the biggest junker on the wall.’ ” —Ray Hennig,
Well today, before leaving Austin, I made my way to the “Heart of Texas” and met both Ray and Mary who are frankly the most outstanding, friendly and helpful people you could ever dream of meeting. Mary took time to talk to us and we talked about the UK and their own travels across the UK and Europe – and of course, had a great dig at the Fr**ch
Now you only have to glance at the walls at this place to see the history enshrouded here, the place where the people we’ve all heard of go to get guitars, guitars setup and all manner of other things. Yet this isn’t a used up “has-been” place! Many of the pictures are new and some have surprising faces on them too. But the importance of this shop, the passion of the owners has been instrumental in quality and excellence of not only many famous artists, but the actual sound that has adorned all of our ears at some point.
Today, as we entered we were greeted by the frankly stunning Mary Hennig who took time to talk to us and explained much while towards the rear of the shop Ray was working hard on an acoustic guitar and doing what he does best.
It was a breath of fresh air to finally meet these two wonderful people who had a lifetimes experience and knowledge of the true Austin music scene, unlike rumour, reading stuff on the web etc. and to talk guitar tech in the form of the next generation of Hennig’s – Shane.
Sadly the site the shop presently occupies and has become famous because of it – is to be bulldozed and rebuilt by the owners of the land where it now stands. While this maybe a new beginning opportunity for the Heart of Texas Music – it is frankly the most wrongful destruction of a significantly historical landmark that has served, supported not only the musicians, live music scene and artists that have become household names – but has made a real impact the overall history of Austin and US wide music history… Hey put it another way, I live 5000 miles away and I know of this place and I normally haunt Denmark Street (UK’s Tin Pan Alley) in London.
It’s also strange that as a teenager I had my idols, but ever since becoming a musician of sorts (not a very good one I hasten to add) and even from the early days of working in a studio in Sheffield, I rarely consider the term “fan”, in fact I tend to look at other musicians as peers of the passion I guess, if they make something of it for themselves, then good for them – it’s often only in their demise we truly acknowledge their greatness! Yet without The Heart of Texas – where would they have been…
I hope to spend more time in Austin in 2012 and the coming years, and I would love to one day hear the stories of these wonderful people.
But if you have time to visit – DO!! Yes, tell them of TWBrit, and please – thank them for what they bring to the industry and to Austin (and buy something of course)
To Ray and Mary, thank you for your time and I hope I see you all again sometime in the future… Oh and the reason I had my back to the 60th Anniversary Telecaster – because I wanted it of course and I’d have looked at it any longer I’d have bought it
So, onwards to the present day and yes, it’s obvious from previous posts that I’ve jumped the gun a little. After a saunter down from Roswell and having a fleeting look at Holloman AFB, we headed to Las Cruces to crash for the night. Sadly the actual Trinity Site is only accessible twice a year, but that’s not to say I didn’t get to play with some interesting hardware before we headed south. So at first light we headed back over the mountain range and headed towards the White Sands Missile Range…
Initially we were told that the Museum was shut and only the Missile Park was open, but it was soon obvious that the whole site was open. First stop was the dubious origins of the Space Program and the tech that made modern missiles technology a reality – the Nazi V2 rocket!! Indeed, at the end of the war both British and US military’s took many of the V1 and V2 rockets home to play with, not to mention the scientist teams that built them.
Then it was onto the Trinity equipment… that’s when I noticed strange things happening to the camera screen, as though slightly darkened bars were on it – It’s fair to say that some of this equipment still glows a bit.
Outside in the missile park there was everything from a TOW missile, Patriot and this sucker… Yes, that is me – stood leaning against the bottom of this Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile…
Back on the road and with all the other driving done already, we headed south for Austin – around 700+ miles for the whole day. At El Paso I had no idea that the Mexican border ran along the freeway and the thousands of huts on the right was indeed a Mexican shanty city. But we did take time out to soak up the 80f sunshine outside a Starbucks..
Moving on through some stunning countryside (and Tarantula habitat) we pulled off at a mainly dead town of Fort(shitsville)Stockton for food which was frankly a mistake. Stopping at a Sonic we went to the restrooms which are behind the kitchens and had to navigate past two piles of vomit to enter – only to see the state of the kitchens… we left in favour of a DQ – which was only mildly better.
Passing miles and miles of wind farms which Texas has lots of and are vast!! We finally pulled off the i10 and headed towards Fredericksburg which turned out to be totally stunning and probably the quaintest town I’ve seen yet in the USA. As we rolled into town it was already dark, but nothing prepared us for the Christmas lights and oldie worldly feel of Main Street.
Stopping to grab McD’s coffee we headed out of town… only for @Gabsatrucker (the Driva) to happen upon a speed exceeding the local speed limit of 50mph… As we approached a speed to allow us to cover 2 miles per minute – a car on the opposite side of the road lit up it’s roof and the pursuit started… all 300 yards of it
The officer was frankly a decent personable guy and asked for the licence and registration and asked where we were coming from and going to etc. This provoked a little natter and moments later he returned, wished us a Happy New Year and left… That’s it..
With that I relaxed in the full knowledge that @Gabsatrucker is a full blooded, hellraising, lawbreaking, get away with anything – Criminal
All in all I was in Austin and settled in for 23:50 just in time to watch the New Year in and enjoy the fireworks that erupted in just about every direction you could see…
It all started many years ago, I was 15 and hadn’t long been living in Sheffield. We were all into rock back then and someone offered me an electric guitar for £15… I took up the offer for a thing called a “Hondo II” which was a black Les Paul copy. The lad I bought it from was called Pete Young and what I didn’t know was that he sold it so cheaply to buy drugs. Pete was an awesome guy, but sadly the drugs got the better of him and they eventually took his life.
Back then it was the dream of every budding guitarist to be able to play Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin. I felt quite accomplished at this and while the guitar was so bad Robin Hood could have used the neck as his preferred Bow, I later bought an American Standard Strat, a US Telecaster, almost an original Les Paul Recording and presently own a bizarre thing I bought in Saudi Arabia. My heart was actually in drumming, this all later changed as drumming isn’t very conducive to having happy neighbours.. So the guitar was king again and I must add that it has probably kept my sanity for many years.
So rolling the clock forward to the last few years and who were my idols? Well I have in my possession (and have shown it on this blog) an invite to New York to meet the one and only and now sadly; late Les Paul. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make the trip but hey… that’s how life is – but I have visited Marshall.
In the world of guitar gods – there are many, many different styles. I never liked Hendrix much because I don’t think Hendrix understood what he himself was doing and Carlos Santana (while an awesome guitarist) never floated my boat either.
But there was one guy who did. In fact when I first heard his version of Hendrix’s Little Wing, I thought there was more than one guitarist… In my mind, this guy actually “got” Hendrix and furthermore – took it all to a level far higher.
Sadly in 1990 the very same guy was killed in a helicopter crash after leaving a gig at Alpine Valley, along with several of Eric Clapton’s own band members.
Today he is widely regarded as and was one of the finest guitarists to have ever lived and while his main genre was Blues, he performed with many others (including David Bowie) and in many other styles as well.
That guy was Stevie Ray Vaughan and this week as part of an accompanied road trip I have had the privilege of visiting many of his old haunts and visiting his grave side in Dallas.
I can’t add any more to this, but if I can be called a fan of any type, it would be of SRV and I am so in full knowledge that I simply do not have the skill and talent to be able to play close to 1% of his own level.
Finally I spent New Year in Austin Texas where he cut his teeth before making the big time. Here in his honour stands his statue.
I feel strangely privileged.
If anyone wishes to visit his Grave Side, below are maps of the actual location of the Vaughan Family Estate in Laurel Land Cemetery, Dallas (click to enlarge). But please, be respectful, don’t cover up his name and do NOT steal anything .
This will be brief so I will come back to it all – anyway… so there I was on the accompanied road trip of sorts, when last night we crossed the border of Texas into New Mexico… and promptly saw the lights on the horizon 44 miles prior to reaching this town everyone has heard of. 30 minutes later and we roll into town with mysterious green glows that seem to emanate from everywhere on Main Street…
This is Roswell, home of a reported UFO crash in 1947 and has welcomed every tourist, nut job, geek, hippy and serious researcher ever since. While formal signs will point out that Roswell is the Dairy Capitol of New Mexico, little in the way of lactacious teat pulling is evident… but what is – is this amazing amount of “buy anything with an alien on it”…
It’s fair to say that while it’s fairly obvious something did happen near Roswell, the whole thing has been fairly well lost in the whole touristic quirkiness of the place… This however did not stop me buying a couple of t’shirts and a mug for Fenny – a blue mug strangely.
Onwards and into outlaw country… and the home of Billy The Kid… Driving down Highway 70 (Billy The Kid Byway) aka it’s not hard to see why this landscape favoured the outlaws of the day. Access to the Mexican border and a landscape so easy to hide in it’s kinda obvious. After stopping to read several Historic Markers we pulled over in Ruidoso Downs and the Billy the Kid Byway Visitors Centre to broaden our knowledge considerably.
Then on, on to Tularosa and a food stop of @Gabsatrucker’s(the Driver) choice and one where only locals stop… to all intents and purposes the place was a shack and I (the Navi-gatorrr and road trip resident legendary bloke) indulged in@Eric_McWhirter’s food of choice i.e. anything with a Green Chilli in it… I swear, that man is trying to kill me!! So I did as the locals do – gained a sweaty tan real quick :-/
On again and a slow drive past Holloman AFB, home of the F22 Raptor and F117a and then to the place I will visit tomorrow….
Yep, as the sun started to give up on the day, slightly later than a week ago as we have now past Winter Solstice and I head west bound for Dallas… I’ve been somewhat bemused at how people effectively “don’t” over take here, they just sit there doing the same speed as the cars in other lanes. This I would find exceptionally irritating as both a car driver and former trucker… But for my US trucking friends, they live with this all the time and I take my hat off to their endurance Finally the sun dropped off the horizon and the miles dragged slowly by at 90. The thing about this road trip is that it’s a fast hit on key or interesting places, it’s not a full road trip in so much we’re not taking the old highways like Route 66 etc… I’ll come back later for that.
Dallas looks awesome at night and frankly while there is some thing I wish to see here tomorrow and will post about that later, there was one place I has grab a quick look at – even in the dark and at night… I’ll let you work it out – but a lot of lurking was done on my part
I’m writing today from as Fenny calls it “Left Pondia”… Getting here was interesting on account that I lost my wallet, complete with cash, bank cards and Driving licence :-/
The realisation of the wallet missing happened about half way over the Atlantic, and while I do have the balls to ask them to turn the plane around – the 10+ hour flight was an endurance in itself. Firstly, walking to the gate I end up talking to our Captain, and yes… there was a lot of 777 talk. The take off was actually awesome, the smoothest climb to altitude I’ve ever experienced. This was of course after they were able to get the food services truck off the side of the aircraft – I’m not joking For 30 minutes guys with tools, hi-viz and wrenches ran back and forth until eventually they did something I thought they should have done in the beginning – towed it back and out of the way. This added adventure left many too late to get connecting flights in Houston sadly. Onboard I was served many drinks by a hostess who appeared sadly to be suffering the onset of Parkinson’s Disease, either that or she was suffering from being a former contestant on dancing with stars as Michael J Fox’s partner. That said, I felt sorry for her, she was older, far more glamorous than the younger hostesses, yet if she had one single accident – her career would be over. After arriving in a rain soaked Houston (Texas… and it was raining!) I left the flight thinking that out pilots were first rate and that people wishing to travel with babies should really think about it, seriously!!
1. Do you have to actually fly with a baby?
2. Why aren’t your family flying to you at Christmas?
3. Just how much discomfort is this causing all the other 300 passengers?
If you have a problem with what I just wrote – I’ll be pleased to correct you at ANY level you like Back in Houston and I was once again joined by my jovial Captain as we joked about the food services truck and I mentioned the good news of losing my wallet.
Now, here is another nugget… TSA at Houston was very slow, especially compared with DC, but at least the chap was a regular comedian which helped considerably. However, on going back through security for my connecting flight – what a complete and utter disaster… You see, there is a limit to just how much security there is versus how much security becomes detrimental to safety itself – if lets say; so many hundreds of people are queuing up that the place deadlocked… then isn’t it better for a terrorist just to detonate themselves there and then? What I witnessed was an extremity of a failed ad-hoc system and the showing off to the world just how this great nation was now a victim and it’s frankly not a pretty sight.
An hour later and I’m awoken on the connecting turbo-prop plane, not by the English captain’s announcement, but by screaming women, serious turbulence and a guy wearing a Vietnam Veteran hat saying “we’re going in hot”!! I’d just like to add that this was the most surreal moment in my flying experience.
I’m sitting here now planning a road trip after watching the Simon Pegg & Nick Frost’s movie “Paul”… As for the wallet and bank cards.. Barclays are happy to NOT send me a replacement card to me here, they’ll only send it to my home address… I enquired to the fact I’m in another country without cash, and they said it’s alright VISA will send me some cash.. He put me through (apparently) but after 30 minutes of nothing… I hung up. Thankyou Barclay’s for being totally bloody useless… and yet – so, well, unhelpful.
So Roswell? White Sands? Route 66? Grand Canyon? Vegas? Memphis? – OR South Dakota, NYC and Chicago?…
You know what – you tell me…
PS I would have added an American flag here as Gabsatrucker said the UK had more Union Jacks up than Stars and Stripes in the US… well I’m here to say she is wrong.. very wrong – so wrong that I wondered if people knew where they were lol lol
Well this past year has been every kind of trauma, fun, upheaval, renewal, learning and as much realisation as you can possibly imagine. At the beginning of 2011 I was indeed living in Devon, now I live somewhere in the middle of the UK and plan to move yet again inside the next 6 months or so.
I’ve also managed to travel extensively and even had this blogs help and hindrance appear for the über fast tour of southern and middle England before she went on her way. I also became an author; publishing the first of several books to Kindle, with a further two in the final edit and one in the writing stage. That one I need a literary agent for.
I’ve had the pleasure this year of meeting several people I have only known online, I also seemed to have travelled a lot and appear to have been to a lot more networking functions than usual. At one of these I met an old friend from my Sheffield days; Alan and I played in a band together, I was a drummer back then and he was the lead guitarist. Heck we even did a European tour and completed several dates across Germany and into Switzerland. No, sadly while I’d like to have claimed it was all rock and roll – we provided the musical backing for a rocked up Christian youth choir… But it was, how should I say… “eventful”. Alan went on to join the RAF Police (like my brother actually) and now is a respectable photo-journalist, podcaster and DJ’s a local radio show – it was fantastic to catch back up with him.
I also finally gained a good Dentist, not only good but both he and his assistant are a shed load of laughs which is always welcome, but he also has a real handle on the state of the bombsite better referred to as my mouth. This is a major “plus” to this year.
This past 12 months have proved an eye opener for me, it has shown me some of the true nature of the most outstanding people I know, ALL of who I am grateful to!! I’ll pop a list at the bottom, but it is in no way complete, so please do not be offended if I didn’t mention you.
The last few weeks have been fairly heavy, because there is much in the works and I’ve been somewhat outside my comfort zone, in fact I could probably say that sums up 2011.
So, here it is, TWBrit thankyou to all who have come by this way to read the blog, contribute to this, and some many other aspects of my life. I truly can’t thank you enough, you have been outstanding, and my life this year would not have moved forward so incredibly well. Above all these people have brilliant;
Sue Black : For constantly encouraging me, ringing up and checking in. Dragging me to the Google Garden Party at Bletchley and for various other things. In the world of tech and software.
Joanne Black : For being true to who she really is; honest, courageous and a genuinely nice person, mom and wife. And for clearing the trees so I can see the wood – and direct encouragement.
Fenny : For stepping up to the plate like no other (and getting a new bathroom out of the deal). Fenny I have known for a great many years, she is way more geek than most geeks and is truly an awesome person. I am seriously indebted to her this year for her direct help and support.
Martha Lane Fox : For getting me to write my first book, in itself it did come to much – but was a catalyst for all the writing since and that is more than enough!
WKD and Kev&Jenette who have kept in contact to see that all is going well. WKD is strange as a former work colleague because while I’m sure my patronising and arrogance drove her nuts, I miss the banter at work.
Hammy & Dean : These two guys were lost to me just over a year ago, and a lifetime apart has changed little. Hammy is still one of the most funny and outstanding guys I know and it’s been a real pleasure keeping up with them throughout the year.
Charlie, Ray Willis, Gary Jones and Steve Easey : Rockin, just rockin!
Gabby aka Gabsatrucker : I swear, this hardcore whoop-ass nut job of a friend could never have been any nationality but her own… she’s crazy in a good way and razor sharp with her wit. She has also help out on this blog, editing my books and all manner of other things. Not bad seeing as every aspect of her life over the last 12 months has been very tough going.
Other areas of outstanding help and encouragement came in the form of Twitter friends @Ritchhh and Natalie… without these guys I wouldn’t have been even on the net still, let alone able to get my ass down here.
Great chats and great laughs, insights and fantastic help which is a large part of the essence of life have often been on Twitter and in email, these have come from;
Yes, it’s this time of year again and strangely, while I dug up the old Christmas logo, I obviously forgot to update the theme with the modern logo style due to the fact I no longer have a working copy of Adobe Creative Suite or better still – Master Suite. This is a shame in itself due to the fact I was to animate the TWBrit logos soon.
This year I’ve been troubled about my wants and wishes… As ever, they’re all crazy, but I thought I would avoid things that require pretence – so membership of Whites Club has been removed. Nevertheless, the taste of all the things I cannot afford grows and lets be honest – is it not that if we refuse to dream, we’ll never make our tomorrow better? This year I will also ply a degree of reasoning with the items on the list. This does not mean there will be logic in that reasoning as in some cases it might come down phrases like “want one” or “me-some”
Also some things on my list last year I actually got and some things this year maybe left over from last year.
So here it is, the crazy and often regarded insane:
The 2011 Christmas List
Battenberg Cake
I know, I’ve put it here before, heck Gabsatrucker even made me one once. But Battenberg is a guys cake… It may look pink and yellow, be wayyyy too sweet – but it is the mass production and yet basic engineering concept that makes this baby a geometric marvel that most guys like – me some
Life Time Supply of Coffee
Because last time I did get coffee, but I’m still alive and I’ve run out
A Knighthood: for services to Britishness, Commonsense and because I’m apparently Legendary
Personalized TWBrit Guitar Picks
Not that I can decide which way to do the artwork as you can see….
ACDC Wine
Toller, Shaker, Blood and Black
Heavy Duty Footwear = CAT & Dehner
I have no problem with wearing pretty much nothing else than Caterpillar Colorado Boots all the time… Supreme comfort, durability and never a bad smell. I have also been on the look out for a long field boot for ages and without spending thousands, the only one that seems to be tough enough and still to be reasonable are Dehner Boots… the actual benefit of Dehners’ is that while it may look like you’re gonna get your head kicked in by them – it allows me to wade through your sticky, lard like entrails afterwards. This, (if you are unsure) is a good thing!
Tech… did you think I had forgotten?? Here they are, the crazy tech items I actually need…
Dell Alienware M11X, M14X and M17X – yes, all 3
Then 2 x XPS 15z with i7 cpu’s
Marshall Hand Wired amp and speaker stack.
Motion Computing J3500
A Matrox M9188 16 port Graphic Card with Touch…
Adobe Master Edition
I have come to use Adobe software a lot on here and with other work. I used to have the CS2 edition but lost the disc a long time ago. And have been using Trial versions ever since… the trials have expired But the reason I love this software is simply the fact you’re limited only by a few things; Imagination! Knowledge of how to use it fully and Cost. Here is the ad vid to the previous version; everything you see here, the detail in the designs, animations and the music was all done with it.
Battlefield 3
Because it’s Battlefield 3 and I can’t run Battlefield 2 anymore Just for fun, here is the Play Symphony playing the theme music
Amberley Court
Amberley Court was on last years list… If this house was a few miles east and not on the side of a hill… it would possibly be the best possible house in the world to me. It came up for sale on the Knight Frank website and I have literally spent weeks pawing over the plans and redesigning the Master Bedroom suite, removing the garden and building a huge basement that covers several floors and includes a way out to the pool house and an extensive subterranean garage, not to mention all manner of other things. The general layout is just astounding!! Sadly it was taken off the market… But still, what a house!!
Free advanced Adobe Training
Private Boeing 787
Yes, yes, I know…. And yes that is a car in the hold. And why? Because it’s the ultimate freedom, and because it’s so wrong and well, I want one
But as I did not win the Euro millions Lottery to the tune of £146m ($227,716,200) a few months ago and would have bought a new 737 BBJ (or 2nd hand 777) to whiz myself and my friends about in – I decided to set my fictional goals just that bit higher
As EVERY year… a Taylor K22ce
—————————————————————————————–
As an interlude, I also have a question or two… Person posing as my former neighbour of sorts, who are you and what have you done with my razor-sharp witted, night driving, sledge-hammer owning, house bashing, hard-assed off roading buddy KMA?
It has been a strange year, and I have to say there are several people I miss on the old twitterscape and blogasphere. I guess most don’t know who they are – but from Dave, Annie, Joanne, WKD, Al, and so many others… you’re missed.
Right – back to it…
Again…. The Land Rover 110 CSW… 2.5 TDi and fully equipped if poss
-
The Wacom Cintiq 24HD
Actually, I would use this every day!! Top tool for doing a top job
A Desktop Solution with a 28 or 30 LED primary screen solution with 2 x22 screen and 6 x 7 touch screens. Sadly the NEC/Alienware 48 inch curved screen is no longer available.
Another Guitar : Gibson Les Paul Dark Fire.
This thing just takes guitar tech to a new level
Gibson still make the Dark Fire, but you need to order it via dealer.
A Made By Bob hoody in navy blue with white writing, size XXL
Still want an Accuracy International .338
Because it rocks and it’s just a whole loada wrong
British Airways – Free bump to business class on every flight I take…. And free trip to Toronto before Christmas please (rtn January)
Theakston’s Old Peculier by the barrel, not the bottle
Whoever you are, where ever you are…. Please, have a great Christmas, drive safely and be safe. For my friends of other religions – know that the spirit and good will of this time extends to you also.
But NOT if you’re a kiddy fiddling priest!!
UPDATE
Regular readers will be thankful of the following image as I’m now too late to purchase these confectionary gifts for you – and yes, this is for real.., as you can see HERE. I know Hammy will be exceptionally disappointed
Yesterday I got the olde carcass out and about, cranked up the old TWBrit CofC2 (car of character) and pottered (close to the speed of take off) down to Bletchley train station and collapsed on a train to London.
40 minutes later and I’m bouncing on the wonder of ancient innovation i.e. the Tube to the banking heartlands and monumental proof that crime can pay – Canary Wharf. Arriving exactly at 3pm to meeting none other than @Ritchhh for coffee and a good old laugh and chat. It was the first time I met Richard, and he has been a massive influence on my life during this past 12 months. Of which I took the opportunity to thank him properly while having an awesome chat about twitter, the web and the future… Richard is not a small guy (17ft 11inches) and certainly someone to whom a new world beckons considerably.
Onwards, and back on the olde Tube heading for Victoria and another coffee as I contemplate the actual concept of the thing I’m heading towards… The Luvvies and Boffin’s bash at the UK Google headquarters.
It was an interesting concept, something lost in the initial talk about it, but an opportunity to meet movers and shakers in the various fields. I did come away with a lot on my mind, I also had a what? why? and don’t already?
You see there a lot of unsung people in technology, in fact there several parts to the collective industry and no one part is more important than the other. Sadly though, people in a given field do one of two things, forget about the importance of all other fields and in doing so become blinkered and therefore ultimately limited by what they can achieve, and end up being way off the mark when something changes elsewhere. Obviously that situation (which I witness ALL THE TIME) is highly detrimental for the business end. It’s actually one of the reasons some companies have a far higher staff turnaround in order to keep the ideas fresh.
Matte Artists (people who do that awesome artwork in games and all the way through to TV and Film)
Soft tech and end product aesthetic design
The Sales out put
The End User
In many respects, when I took a little time out of the industry I heard a phrase repeated several times; “Another thing that is apparently vital, that we can’t live without and no one wants”
This had an impact on me. It’s strange how so many people disagree about Steve Jobs – the techs know that Mr Jobs was NOT a tech genius, infact he WAS a marketing genius – and good for him! But to the end user and person in the street, he is a guy that created their cool gadget. He made “Bling” more expensive and wanted than the actual power and bang for buck. Apple simply has a great OS which you, the end user is not allowed to tinker with!! He didn’t invent the smart phone, he along with every other manufacturer was in a race to provide an almost PC power level handset ready for the 4G revolution… And you wanna know something – they failed… So much so, 4G isn’t going to be the power and bandwidth originally designed because of the problem with all the industry in this field tripping over the latest gadget and not getting on with thinking and working far enough ahead.
Now I’m not gonna sit here and give a lecture in the real truth that has been going on, or how many people try to get on the band wagon, because frankly there are now too many people sitting around and talking about and not making a decision and getting a job done – we are now becoming our own hindrance (me included). Here is the problem – we can’t teach passion… especially when the teacher has the blinkers on… Art in tech is already there… Apple proved it and for the most part, artists don’t sit around talking, they sit around imagining things….
And that is the future – the joining together of Luvvies and Boffins to change the world and walk freely into the future with eyes wide open.
I must thank Dr Sue Black for dragging me along, to see PJ Bryant again was fantastic and also to thank him sincerely for the exercise advice when we had previously met when I’d ripped all the ligaments on my left shoulder.
I was going to add a gruesome story to my journey home… but alas, nah
So finally a few pics of inside Google itself… I took these on purpose because they stopped me from taking a picture of reception – the visitors end and the bit they apparently no longer wish to show off
Toilet Lighting
Emergency Gurl Ammo or Extreme First Aid
Well, I use a HTC, I find these a little clumbersome on the car suspension
Well this last week I finally managed to publish my first book to Kindle It’s the first of several volumes telling an adult story of life change and as such published under a pseudonym. There are several things I’m writing, some will be under the TWBrit name and a couple under my real name, one of which is a memoir of my time at St.George’s which is in full swing. The cool bit was that I sold two copies of the book on the first day!! So…. I iz an Orrrrrtherr However, its early days and it takes about 3 months to get paid from Kindle.
My dental infection is coming back and I really need to jump on this ASAP, so I need to call the dentist today before it fully takes hold (face already swelling). It’s not a surprise sadly, I found myself grinding the old teeth through the last three nights. Note: don’t grind yer teef
The annual interesting (if not crazy) TWBrit Christmas List to Santa is in the making and readers may recall that for the most part it’s a list of gratuitous boys toys, some of which I I’m sure could only be classed as either lethal or very fattening – so far the fattening ones have worked. This Thursday should bring the list proper.
Wednesday I’m supposed to be in London, so I’m hoping I can get on top of the dental trouble asap.
I have also been watching the Leveson Inquiry… I’m not saint; I know how the world works and have some knowledge of methodologies of hacking and tapping. Yet I must say; even I have been left stunned by some of the evidence I have heard. It really isn’t for me to comment at the moment, but I would recommend watching some of this or previous evidence given HERE
Way back in the mid 1960’s, in fact a year before I was born, some chaps sat down and came up with the idea, then plan, for a short to medium haul jetliner… The original idea at Boeing was actually back in 1958 as they wanted to compete with aircraft like the DC9 and BAC 111. Back then, things were Spartan compared to these days, but for the most part they designed one of the greatest success stories in Aviation history.
Sure, most are still flying, and some dodgy outfits might be running some first generation ones well past the sell by date on the airframes (hence a few of the older ones make the news sadly every now and then), but this aircraft has been constantly updated, redesigned, they’ve even now fitted the 777 glass cockpit to it…
I am of course talking about the most widely sold, ordered, biggest selling civilian commercial aircraft of all time The Boeing 737… And yes, for somewhere between $30 – $40 million you to can enjoy your very own private one – in the form of the BBJ (Boeing Business Jet).
This month, in fact last week and even now sees the 7000th 737 on the production line…
Seriously, I don’t think you can beat that.
Well done Boeing!!
The Picture above is from Boeing’s Flickr and can been seen HERE
I’m not online much this week, but I just popped by briefly to send an email and thought to write this..
Folks who pop by this blog know of this blogs hindrance and help Gabsatrucker.
If you’ve followed any of her exploits on her BLOG or even followed her on Twitter then you won’t be surprised at the news that she’s hanging up her keys.
If you didn’t know, Gabby (all 2ft 1 inch of her), someone I often berate on twitter as a ”Fk’in Leprechaun” is both a full and half marathon runner, mountain biker, a total geek, a discerning footwear addict and Big Rig trucker..
But for two years solid, she’s been through the ringer with her company, no – nothing she’s done. Basically it’s down to company operations.
She has been hit persistently with mechanical breakdowns, stranded for days in the middle of nowhere, endured temps over 105 f for days on end without a working AC unit, had her personal life totally screwed up, been diverted from her normal dedicated route and sent all over the USA without time to return home for anything and then, besides the grosse daily barrage of sexism, sexual harassment, innuendo and sometimes even fear for her own safety - she was hit with a 20% pay cut…
Yet throughout all this, she has remained professional, courteous and has taken pride in getting her job done and on time. Often to be left on the Mexican border for days waiting for a return load with nothing to do but be left sitting a sauna of a truck and her only security – her small dog Elsie.
Now just to explain to our Brit drivers; as you know, by law we are paid by the hour – a rule that came in with the Tachograph and now Digital Tachograph. The reason being is that to pay someone by the mile increases the likelihood of speeding and rule breaking. Well over in the US, they haven’t quite worked that out yet as they bring in what is widely termed as “E-Logs”.
As such, if you ain’t rolling – you ain’t getting paid…
Yeah, I know – that would cause out right rebellion here… but it’s the way they do things at the moment and that’s that.
So, while suffering the southern Texas heat with a persistently broken, repaired, broken air conditioning and having to simply sit in a truck and wait – it’s not rocket science that this has been detrimental to both her will, health and her stress level (not what you want truckers suffering really). Furthermore, it’s a situation that has been getting much, much worse.
New Dispatchers have made things worse too, trying to talk her out of medical appointments, races, time off – all to get their little (I go home at 5) work done.
Then add the loss of her father and various other personal actions these last few months and you get the picture.
Finally, she found the straw that would break the camels back, and instead of her much needed weekend at home last week, she found herself in sub-zero temps, in snow storms in Rochdale, NY… on the Canadian border – where they have a “No Idle” law… so she wasn’t allowed to heat her truck up to stay warm.
When given the job down in the Laredo, she finally handed in her notice… They still sent her on the run and as this is written, Gabby is sitting on the Mexican border with a return load to home – but has to sit there one final time for 35 hours… as her working hours have run out.
After over 10 years loyal service to her company… this is their final note
It is however fair to say, that most trucking companies (no matter which country you’re in) are backward in standards that are seen as normal in any other industry – this is especially in treatment, support and duty of care to staff and Drivers… They most certainly never realise the people who make them look good.
As for Gabby’s future? Well, retraining and study in Business Management or E-Commerce Consultancy are well and truly on the cards. Whether she takes the certification route or a MBA degree route is to be seen… But she tells me she’d like to study this in the UK, failing this Austin or Toronto are high on the list.
Living proof that most drivers (contrary to popular belief) are a fairly bright bunch. Heck, with friends like Dr. Sue Black who is listed as the 5th most influential woman in the world of technology… I think she’ll do just fine. That said, the support for her actions across the net has been staggering, as too, the huge amount of people who follow her on twitter – whom by all accounts are a rock solid bunch of people!!
So in three days time, the Fat Lady, will most certainly be singing
I would have contemplated a trip over to have a pint down the pub with my newly labelled “bloody lay-about” buddy – but I don’t think they have pubs Yer see, shoulda stayed British :p
know my humour often has to be toned down considerably – but it transpires many of you like my often rude or quirky sayings… especially the word “Bollocks” and the interest in the mug area is quite interesting 
At this rate I’ll have to start a “Bollocks” store on it’s own. I’m still tweaking it, so keep and eye on it. Oh and if there’s something I’ve missed or simply does notwork – please let me know.
