Fencing lessons

Well, we taught ourselves but I couldn’t think of a witty headline. Last weekend, we got round to putting a fence in our recently divided driveway. Here is it is with just the brackets in, although you can also see our lawn coming in – and our living Christmas tree (a Western Hemlock that could get enormous).

And here it is mostly finished – made from recycled wood from the old gate between the house and the garage, and some leftover lumber from the deck on the other side of the house. Just another coat of paint and we’re done.

Inauguration Balls are all the Vashon

What a great day yesterday, as Barack Obama was sworn in as Pres number 44. I watched the ceremony over my morning cuppa, streaming over the BBC website – complete with some of the daftest commentary I’ve heard. After work, we took Chippy over to Vashon to an Inauguration Ball.

Karen dusted off her genuine prom dress from the mid-80s and I clambered into my old DJ and a (just about) matching vintage dress shirt – we felt ever so glamorous, until we started dancing at least.

Trika was our partner in crime, of course, as was Stephen Bean (above) and his charming sister Sarah. Trika’s good mates Jesse and Rebekah also came along, with some fine speakeasy 1920s style.

Then it was a mad rush through peasouper fog to catch the last ferry home – just made it!

Two flying cars for the price of one

Just a heads up that I had a fun story on flying cars in today’s Sunday Times. Well, actually I had two stories on the same car – one in the main news section (http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/engineering/article5489287.ece), which led to a slightly longer version in the usual InGear supplement (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article5483226.ece).

Now if they’d only pay me twice for it, I’ll be really happy…

CES and Vegas, baby!

If it’s January, it must be the Consumer Electronics Show. The gadget industry’s annual beano gets bigger every year. This year I went with Sony, who treated us like kings – or emperors even (we stayed at Caesars’ Palace).

Here I am with Hollywood comedy legend Fred Willard, after a press dinner thrown by DTS at Nobu. Mmmm, black cod.

I won’t bore you with all my gadget stuff (if you’re that interested, check out the Sunday Times story here http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/men/article5483302.ece).

Instead, here are some pictures from the truly amazing Neon Museum, home to old illuminated signs from casinos of yesteryear.

The light was fantastic – the tour guide really knew his stuff.

This one says it all!

Ginger’s for New Year

The end of our first year in America! We celebrated in style, jumping on the train down to Portland with Trika to visit Ginger and Kurt. Here’s their new extension dormer – just finished:

Cue a huge party with simply all of Portland’s hipster community – and a friendlier, dancier, more cheerful bunch you could hardly wish for. The girls dressed up, of course.

And we even had a visit from old Brighton mates Lisa and Dave, who normally live down in Colorado but were up visiting Dave’s parents.