Off Again

Im all ready for the flight this afternoon. Just gotta pop into work this morning to finish a couple of things off.

I land Friday morning at 8am, then drive up to the estate agents to pick the keys up for the new place. I can't wait. This weekend will be spent with Phillip (letter from North Bransholme) moving all my stuff from my dads garage over to Lincoln. Then I have to go to Bishop Auckland to pick up some conservatory furniture

I will have to make sure that I get plently of sleep on the flight back.

U2 and Football themes

I think the band U2 have captured the 'incidental music for football' market. ;A beautiful day' is used in the UK for the Saturday footy show I seem to recall, and out here 'I will Follow' is used on ESPN, and Ive just heard 'Pride' being played in between clips.

They might be a great band, but they seem to have hocked their buttholes to the football devil. Poor Bono, he must have really needed the cash. Maybe we should have a blog whip around for the hard up band? The Edge has always dressed like a tramp - I just thought it was his image, but maybe I was wrong, maybe he was just skint?



"Buddy can you spare me a dime?" Could be the new U2 single?

How to Cool Beer....

....Mythbusters style!

Just been watching Mythbusters, and they were trying to work out the quickest way to cool down a six pack. Thought it might be handy for the surfing weekend.

Well, unless anyone can get hold of a Co2 fire extinguisher for the weekend (it will chill beer to 37 degrees f in 3 mins!) they suggest ice, water and salt. The salt melts the ice quicly and cools the water around the tinnies, cooling them down in around 5 minutes.

Sounds like a plan to me, and beats cooling them in a stream :-)

The Texas Chair

No, not the one you plug in...I bought one of those fold away chairs that has a Texan flag pattern, so at least I'll have something comfy to sit on at the surfing.

I got it from Wal-Mart (no I didn't buy any socks, Phil) but I did buy a couple of DVD's. Syriana and The Hills have eyes Unratededition (I think that means its a bit more gruesome). To be honest, I was a little disappointed with Syriana, I thought it was slow and dis-jointed.

The Hills Have Eyes, started off ok, waned towards the middle, and the less said about the end the better! The plot seemed really formulaic, and by the end of the film, I really wanted the main character to get an axe in his head. And why is it with any film like this you can tell which character is going to die first, a mile off! Heres the formula (most likely to die being first):

1. Fat dumb bloke. Like Spring follows winter, the stereotypical fat dumb bloke will be the first character to go, because no one wants to see a pudgey guy save the day.

2. The cute pet. I laughed out loud when The Hills Have Eyes had 2 dog characters. Was it gonna be Beauty or Beast that bit the dust first? As soon as Beauty broke away from her chain and ran into the hills, I knew she wouldn't be coming back for her 'Winalot'. Sure enough, a bark, followed by a whimper confirmed my suspicions!

3. The cocky loud mouth. I do love it when the know-it-all gets what he deserves

Anyway, I need coffee...

Surfing

I can't believe that this years surf extravaganza will be taking place in just over two weeks! We're off to Cayton Bay near Scarborough. Hopefully the weather will be a lot better than the last two years (we had a lot of gales and rain!)

My brother goes surfing there most weekends, and he reckons its great...so if its rubbish, we can all blame him :-) His nickname at work is apparently 'The Silver Surfer' due to his hair colour! Mine would probably be 'the receding, but not bothered about it surfer' :-(

One of my favourite surf films is Big Wednesday, starring Gary Busey, William Katt (of Dial M for Murder fame!) and Jan Michael Vincent. It tracks the lives of three surfing friends as they grow up in America, having parties, dodging the 'nam draft and eventually 'drawing the line'. Me and my brother used to watch this film endlessly when we were growing up, until my dad got drunk one night and taped over it :-D He the most popular person in the house after he did that...
Last year, the night before the surfing weekend, me, my brother and Alex P watched it, and quoted 'Thats just the Lemon next to the Pie' (a line from the film) all weekend as we watched the tiny waves roll onto the shore.

Hopefully, this year MrGoatse wont be 'entertaining' us all with his interpretation of 'The Puppetry of the Penis' (he actually took his girlfriend to see the show!) and Bazza has promised not to neck 3 litres of cider before 5pm on the first day, rendering himself ill for the rest of the weekend :-D

I can't wait...

House

No, not the TV show with Hugh Laurie in it, although I was chatting to someone over here about that program and he didn't realise Hugh Laurie was English, his accent was that good!

When I get back to the UK I will be picking up the keys to my new place! Im really looking forward to it. It'll be nice not to have such a long drive into work, and it will be great to have a place of my own. Im looking forward to relaxing in the conservatory with a glass of wine or two, but wont be looking forwad too much to having to look after the gardens! I will have to finish off the garage (its only half built) but it will give me a project to work on (anyone know any good builders?!) I reckon my dad will be happy to get his garage back :-)

I just need to get a van sorted out to get all the stuff there - Phil does your bus go anywhere near Lincoln?!

So, anyway, I reckon the global economy will nose dive now...but thats just my optimistic outlook on life shining thru...!

This socks

I realised this morning that I had forgotten to pack any dark coloured socks, so I am having to wear my white gym socks :-(

I feel like some kind of 80's throw back :-(

Roth Radio No More

Was flicking thru the radio stations this morning on the way into work and it seems Dave Lee Roth got the boot from Free FM in April

I must say that commercial radio out here does seem to be incredibly cut throat. If a presenter of a show in England has a squabble or a gripe with his employers, the listener tends not to really hear about it...(with the exception of the Chris Evans episode at Virgin!) but out here they tend to air their management greavances live on air!

Roths replacement two guys who, I think are called Andy and Opie seem to be in some kind of dispute already, and were slagging off lawyers for not allowing them to say certain stuff!

From what I can gather, it all harps back to Howard Stern (who Roth replaced) who was angry at the FCC for censoring him, so he decided to move to Sirrius satellite, who (supposedly) censor nothing.

It seems that the two new guys have been slagging off Sirrius and their lawyers wont let them reitterate what they said (which seems fair enough to me?!).

Dee-Ro is apparently considering following Mr Stern onto Sirrius, but it seems he was given the boot because he was a bit of a prima donna, and becuase his show sucked and listeners were leaving in droves.

Speaking of sucking...Lex and Terry are still on 102.1 The Edge :-( I wonder whatever happened to Jagger, Mondo and Dean?

Im Back

In an apartment in Rockwall now. Flew back today, and slept most of the flight. Got a pontiac G6 this time, which is quite nice.

Its warm again...about 85 degress (32 ish is proper money). Need to get a good nights sleep tonight, gotta be at work first thing in the morning :-(

I'll write more later

Leaving on a Jet Plane.....Again

Just got my tickets for Dallas again. Flying out on Sunday and will be there until the end of the month...for starters anyway.

Apparently its very warm out there at the moment :-)

My apartment is in Rockwall this time, which is nearer work, so there wont be quite such a drive this time around. I will also have to try and get to Austin to visit the Washbournes and their new arrival.

On a jet plane related note...Just seen a load of aircraft flying in formation. Must be practising for the Queens birthday or something? (its a bit to early to be practising for the Air Show over here soon?)

There were Eurofighters flying in diamond formation, an E3 flanked by 2 tornado's off each wing Even the Red Arrows were there! It looked really cool

Economy

Well its nice to see the world economy going into a bit of a nose dive, just as Im about to buy a house.

Coincidence?


I think not :-(

Weddings, Football & Houses

Not having an internet connection sucks...so I'll bundle a few topics together

Went to Ali and Daves wedding at Linlithgow Palace on Friday last week. Had a really great time, and Ali looked very nice in her dress (I'll post a pic or two if I get permission off her) Dave looked good in his dress too...I think they call them Kilts :-) Ali's uncle played the bag pipes too - what a weird instrument that is. Spent most of the evening chatting with Helen B and her chap Ian (I know Helen wanted a mention on here - she e mailed me after the 'blogging groupies' post!) Helen had a room in the hotel next to a connecting door that kept her awake most of the night - I wonder if she has written her letter of complaint yet?!

Went over to my brothers on the Saturday. Helped him fit his pond filter at his new house and move some wood into his garden. Eddy and Dorit where there too and we caught a few mins of the England match. Is it just me who finds football boring? All the hype, and then an own goal! I ended up giving Eddy odds of 100-1 against England winning, and he only bet a quid! I suppose it would be good if England did win (apart from owing Eddy £101) but its the same every four years. 'England have the strongest team since 1966' 'This is their best chance of winning since 1966' I reckon they will probably get as far as the semi's this time.

The house move seems to be progressing well. I need to find out what happens when Im back in the US, and if I can assign a power of attorney to sign things on my behalf, or if they can fax stuff to me. It will be nice to get in and have a 20-30 minute drive as opposed to 1 and a half hour - 2 hours commute that I have at the moment :-(

Well gotta go, see y'all later

Back to the USA

Looks like I'll be back in Dallas in a week or so! I need to go back there for a few weeks to sort some problems out over there. Its about 98 degrees there, so looks like I'll be packing a few t shirts and shorts! So if any of you are in the DFW area again - give me a shout.

My GF got bitten by a spider recently and had a severe allergic reaction. All very weird! She had been hospitalised, but is out now, and is getting better.

Also its Ali R's wedding this weekend, so I'll be up in Scotland celebrating that. So congrats to Ali and Dave

Big Brother - they really have scraped the barrel this year haven't they?! Still can't stop watching it though :-(