Home from home...

Well I'm in the good olde US of A this week for work. First time I've traveled on work related stuff for something like 18 months, which is so odd given I've had a USA boss for over 6 months and the rest of my team is based here, but that is how life is sometimes. I've had other less "global" jobs and traveled much more. Today is a big workshop (the pretext for traveling) with another group then I've got a couple of days in the office to try to catch up with "customers" and "partners" before flying home on Friday.

I'm staying in the same hotel I've used now for years and which the family stayed in the summer on our USA holiday. Funny it seems all so familiar now - I almost was confused as they've moved the TV in the breakfast room!

The trip out was ok but very tiring. Why do airlines get you all to bundle on the plane thinking that you daren't hold up the process or all the other passengers and crew will think you are the one that caused the delay so that come the time to push back everyone is in and ready only for the pilot to say... "It's very busy at Heathrow this time of day and we have a 1 hour delay here at the gate". Err... why not let us stay in the lounge then? I presume a) they think they'll lose some of us or b) they need to get you on the plane to free up seats in the lounge. Anyway after sat on the tarmac we taxied around for another 45 mins then took off... 1 hour 45 mins and you've gone about 300 yrds in a plane that can do 500 mph? Air travel - mind boggling!

We landed in Boston and one thing was exactly the same as in London. The weather. Rain was hammering down. One good thing on the delay meant we were through immigration quick as no other flights were there at the same time and I got my Chevy Impala hire car sorted and set off to drive to Connecticut. Of course now was the start of a very raining rush hour in Boston so the drive down was slow. Still all in one piece and not the worst one I've ever experienced which I blogged about on my old blog some years back... slipping along I95 in an ice storm... never again!

Comments

  1. DILLIGAF1 December 2009 at 16:21

    And just think what's under your feet on the plane....Flammable Liquid, Radioactive, Corrosives, Infectious Substances....

    On the plus side as I no longer work at Heathrow at least I won't have passed them as 'safe to fly'...;-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Suburbia1 December 2009 at 17:24

    Glad you arrived safe, how's your ears?

    ReplyDelete
  3. JohnJayJay1 December 2009 at 17:41

    Back in the US of A? Hmmm...doesn't seem fair. I haven't been to the UK in 14 years...clearly I need to go back! Nice and sunny here in California...nights are chilly in the mid to low 30's...but days are low to mid 60's and crystal clear. Makes living here almost worth the expense, crowding, and pollution....almost! haha

    ReplyDelete
  4. Furtheron2 December 2009 at 00:19

    @FD - at least I trust you :-)

    @Sub - ears are good at the moment ta.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fantasy Signature Guitar

Image
I got this from IHeartGuitarBlog who got it from the Seymour Duncan User Group Forum Here are a set of questions to answer about your own fantasy signature guitar... Q1: Which company called you? Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Q5: What special piece of “case candy” goes with it as a collector’s item? Right here goes... Q1: Which company called you? Fender Q2: Which standard model in their product lineup do you base your sig off of? Strat. Q3: What specs do you insist upon that make it uniquely yours? Ash body, rosewood fingerboard 12" radius, large 70s style headstock but four bolt neck joint. Non trem! Twin humbuckers, with tone and vol each and coil taps on the tone controls. Q4: What other customizations do you make to the guitar? Locking machine heads - not really needed but make string chan
Read more

12 String Guitar - Bridge Doctor Installation

Image
Remember my 12 string needing to have it's overbelly reduced?  Well I ordered a Bridge Doctor  from StewMac in the USA which arrived in a couple of weeks. Here is the bridge doctor before installation Here is the action before - about 5mm on the bass side and about 3mm on the treble. The guitar on the workbench Hole drilled - I got a 1/4" brad bit for the outer hole and used a cocktail stick marked at 1/8" as my depth gauge.  You get a little plastic dot you can inlay over the screw once finished - I may do that later when I get happy with it.  Luckily I have a local little hardware shop that stock imperial drills and are cheaper than the big stores... no doubt as the stock has been there 20 years! Set the doctor to the best width - the circular plastic bolt holder has three settings - I used the widest you can see to allow string clearance on the 12 string - on a 6 string the middle would probably be best setting.  The doctor installed - t
Read more

Let's talk plectrums...

... or should that be plectra I'm no good at that kind of English... to boldly go and all that. (If you are not a guitarist here is a health warning about this post, it may lead to you attempting to chew off a limb to retain conscious or keep your sanity...) My history of plectrum use is... Bloody huge triangular Gibson ones, heavy, I used to wear them out so they ended up pretty much circular in a matter of days/weeks. Odd at that time I had a Strat copy and used Gibson Strings and Gibson picks - I even went for Gibson strings with a wound third at one point after reading heavier strings gave a better tone... yes but you can't play the damn thing and could never get the intonation sorted out after an older mentor showed me what that nonsense was all about. For a long time there after I used Fender medium the hard once, often in tortoiseshell as I thought that classy for some bizarre reason. "Hello darling look at my tortoiseshell picks." I never had many girlfriends
Read more