60 years ago today

RIP Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, J. P. Richardson and Roger Peterson. The Independent has an excellent article today about the "Day the Music Died."

This is Buddy and the Crickets on the Ed Sullivan show in 1957, performing "Peggy Sue".

Apologies for the lack of activity

It looks like I am starting out my next blogging decade at a snail's pace! I have been distracted by lots of happenings back in my "real life". My time available for Swedish stuga blogging is less than I'd like right now. Full service should return in a month or two.

Ten Years of Blogging

Believe it or not, today marks the ten year anniversary of my first blog post. Over the past decade:

- I've made 1400 posts. The most viewed post was, inexplicably, about November's weather. The most searched topic is, of course, Cinderella!

- Over 355,000 different people have viewed the blog. The lovely people at Cabin Porn were my top referral site. Strangely enough, France is the home of my most avid readers.

- I've also posted nearly 2100 photos so far. A few of them are pretty good.

It's been fun to skim back through the years and see how the whole project has moved from designing, to building, and now onto living in our little house. We have made many great friends over the years, and it's no exaggeration to say that Sooz and I feel as home there as anywhere we've ever been.

So what does the next decade hold? That's a good question. Our plan is to spend our summers on Aspö when we retire. What with the grocery deliveries from Mat Hem, the pending installation of fibre broadband, the new luftpump, and our own little boat giving us freedom, such a prospect is very easy to imagine.

Retirement is not that far away, either. I'm pretty sure it will be within five years, perhaps even a bit sooner. We've thought about how long-term living at the house would be different from the way we've been using it so far. Sooz is really looking forward to our growing our own vegetables; I'll be making a few planters over the coming summers. I'm also planning a new closet as we will need more clothes available. It's easy to wear the same shirt a few days in a row when all I do is putter about the house by myself. We will have to think differently about water usage, too. Being there every day will strain our well quite a bit more than 6 weeks' worth of visits.

We always use our house in "vacation mode," too. We're always anxious to get to Aspö quickly and not leave when we are there, to maximise our time at our house. Time won't be in short supply when we move from vacation mode to retirement, so we will have to re-adjust our thinking. We'll have to think of our house more as a base from which to do things, as opposed to a destination in itself. We will also have to change our eating (and drinking) habits from vacation mode to daily living!

All of that is a bit in the future though, although it is lovely to think about spending long, lazy days watching the seasons progress through our beautiful little island.

Here's to another decade as wonderful as the first!

RIP Buddy

Ironically, I'm not far from Clear Lake, Iowa,  tonight. It's my mom's birthday and we're in Minneapolis to celebrate. It is darned cold. I wouldn't blame Buddy Holly at all for wanting to avoid a long bus ride on a night like this.

Today's picture is from his last concert at the Surf Ballroom. There aren't many images from that show 58 years ago.

I recently found a website collecting all of the songs found on Buddy's tape recorder after his death. In some of the recordings, the sounds of apartment life are heard in the background, which make them both charming and heartbreaking.

Today's selection is from those recordings: Buddy's beautiful version of Dearest.

Apologies for the lack of posts

It's been a whirlwind August since our return from Aspö. Both work and home life have been very busy, and I haven't had the time to post.

We will return to close up the house in late September. I have lots of topics to write about, as soon as I find the time. Stay tuned!

"A very nice hand for these Texan gentlemen"

December 1, 1957. Still sounds great today, over fifty-eight years later.

RIP Buddy Holly.

A portable ferryboat

I've recently read about an inflatable ferry from a Slovenian company. When folded, it's portable, easily inflatable, and can carry up to 5,000kg, which is a heck of a big vehicle!

The company also says their boat is "practically unsinkable and incapable of overturning", which I think was also said about the Titanic. Of course, there aren't any icebergs in the archipelago, so it should be safe.

I certainly wouldn't have use for such a vessel, but it might be handy for some ad hoc construction projects around the islands.

The Day the Music Died

Don McLean called the events of 56 years ago "The Day the Music Died."

I'm flying to Lubbock later this morning to pay my respects. 

RIP Buddy Holly.

UPDATE: I went with my friend John. It was a wonderful experience, I enjoyed the center and the nice people of Lubbock. I've posted a few photos.

UPDATE 2: Both my mother and Margaret informed me of this story in today's news, regarding the possible reopening of the investigation into Buddy's plane crash. I'm not sure the benefits of looking into it again, so far in the past. I would think the US authorities have better things to do with their time.

An update from the CES

I blogged exactly a year ago about a hand-held thermal imaging accessory for the iPhone.

This year at the Consumer Electronics Show, that handy little gadget has been updated. It also has a low-cost competitor.

It would be fun to play with for moose-spotting in the dark, never mind the value of finding leaky spots in the house.

Just one year of development has made a huge difference in these gadgets. I find that fascinating.

Привіт мої українських читачів!

That post title translates as "hello to my Ukranian readers."

Why the Ukraine, you may ask? Well, it appears that I have recently gained a Ukrainian readership. I've had over 800 page views from Ukraine in the past month, which outpaces readers from every other country, even the United States.

I have no idea what's behind this recent popularity. If anyone in the Ukraine has an answer, please let me know in the comments. In the meantime, Ми раді, що Ви відвідуєте нас!

UPDATE: It appears these visits may not be curious Ukrainians, but instead spambots or other potential hacking activity. I will look further into this; Google provides a range of analysis tools which I haven't really bothered with up to now. I will report back.

UPDATE 2: Sadly, it appears there's some sort of nefarious activity going on. Most—if not all— of my Ukrainian visitors have come here from websites that sell Viagra. Goodness knows why that might be the case; that's not a product I'm familiar with...

The top two posts

I wrote recently that my third most popular post on the blog was about the "Word Cloud".

Now it's time to share the two most popular posts, and they aren't what one might guess.

The top —number one with a bullet, as Kasey Kasem might have said— most popular blog entry was about Toilet Technologies on October 9, 2007. It's had over 3500 visits. Second, with 2300 visits, was my December 13, 2008 post about St. Lucia's day.

One reason the older posts garner so many visitors is they've been around for a long time. Over the years, people have a greater opportunity to stumble across my past musings.

Traffic in the case of these two is thanks to Google. Both "Toilet technologies" and "St. Lucia's Day" are generic search phrases. Anyone typing in either of those phrases would be shown my blog post in the search results.

That's not true today, though. Google has become smarter over the years. Anyone searching for toilet tech or St. Lucia today will get results far more usable than my blog!

Moving back as a retiree

Returning to Texas after our recent visit was quite different than my usual flights back to the US.

Up until now, my stays on Aspö were on vacation from work. Especially when I was away for two weeks (which is unusual in many American companies), I had a lot of catching up to do when I got home. During all my time on Aspö, my responsibilities to my colleagues were always in the back of my mind.

I plan to find another job, but I don't know what I might do, or where I might do it, or when I might start work again. Until then, our little stuga is not so much a vacation home as it is a second home.

I'm not sure what this means just yet. It may not mean anything at all. But if we end up spending many months out on the island, what changes might we make to our house, and to our lifestyle?

It's an interesting question I plan to explore further. Comments from readers are very welcomed.

The Graduate

On a personal note, Grant graduated from Elon University this weekend. The good news is that he's starting a new job straightaway. The bad news is that he won't be able to join us in Sweden.

I'm disappointed, but I remember that he can't visit us because he has a job, so that's very good news.

Congratulations, Grant!

The Buddy Holly Center in Lubbock

I have lots of free time now, so I am planning to go on a visit to Buddy's home town.

I'll go soon. But not today.

A report from the Consumer Electronics Show

The CES is the big coming-out party at the beginning of the year for the newest wild and wonderful gadgets and technologies. Being a bit of a nerd myself, I love to see all of the crazy stuff that comes out. (My favorite so far is a wifi-connected crockpot.)

However, I did see something that might be practical as well as fun. A company called 'FLIR' has announced a "Personal Thermal Imager" for the iPhone.

I can see a number of practical uses; finding insulation leaks, for example. That would be handy in both Sweden and Texas! It would also be fun to spot a moose in the woods, or Ollie in the backyard.

I'm not sure I'll be buying one just yet. The idea that something which used to cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars is now just an iPhone accessory is something I really get a kick out of!

Changes

Regular readers know that I work for a global airline, and I have worked in many places in the US and Europe. The travel perks of being an airline employee enables us to have a little house outside of Stockholm, yet still visit it easily from wherever we're living at the time.

From today, it's more accurate to say that I did work for a global airline. There's been a reshuffle where I work. After more than 30 years, I'm no longer with my employer. A bit unexpectedly, I find myself starting the new year without a job.

The good news: We get to keep our industry travel privileges as part of my departure, so we'll still be able to fly back and forth. I've always wanted to spend much more than two weeks out at our little stuga, and I may well be able to do that now. A shame my workplace freedom comes in January, though. We really can't head to Aspö next week!

The bad news is that I'm not ready (or financially able) to retire just yet; I need to find another job, which will be an odd thing for me after essentially my whole life with one company. Spending a full summer on Aspö would be a dream, but perhaps not the best thing for a career search.

I've always been darned busy with my work, with lots of travel and 24/7 demands on my time. Now I have to transition to being someone who has all the time in the world. Stay tuned over the next few months, it will be an interesting ride.

Lots of content on its way

... just not yet. Between the jet lag, lots going on at work, and our own home project in Texas, I've been short on free time. However, I have been keeping a list of future topics and I've jotted 8 subjects so far, so stay tuned!

The Bristlecone Pine Forest

This one's not Aspö- related but I had to share. Last weekend, Sooz surprised me with a trip to the Inyo National Forest, in the White Mountains of Eastern California. We went there to hike up to see the Great Basin Bristlecone pine trees, the oldest living things on earth.

Ever since I was a third grader, when I first read about these ancient trees growing in a remote place, I always kept a visit as a dream trip in the back of my mind. For my birthday this year, Sooz made all the arrangements and we went to see them. It was an amazing experience.

Pictures don't do these amazing trees justice, but I did try, and I have a small photoset on Flickr for anyone interested.

RIP Carroll Shelby

Carroll Shelby passed away last night. He was 89 years old, and had spent the last 21 of those years on a transplanted heart. Mr. Shelby was a tough old bird from East Texas, and he did a hell of a lot in his 89 years.

The New York Times and ESPN both have eloquent obituaries of this influential sports car racer and designer. But I have a more personal story to tell.

As readers of this blog may know, I have one of Mr. Shelby’s cars, a 1968 GT500KR convertible that I’ve owned since 1978.  I had the opportunity to meet him a few times at car shows over the years.

When I worked in London, a friend called to tell me Mr. Shelby was flying into Heathrow and could I meet him and assist his arrival into the UK?

And of course I did. We had a nice chat working our way through immigrations and retrieving his bag. He probably didn’t remember me, but he faked it very convincingly. As I helped him into his ride, a 1967 Shelby (the only one I ever saw in the UK), he gave me a few tickets to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, which he was attending. “Come see me,” he said, “and we’ll have lunch.”

I told Sooz and Grant of my encounter and we made plans to go to Goodwood and to have lunch with Mr. Shelby. Grant, who was 7½ at the time, was especially excited as he was going to get to meet one of my heroes. He was at that age when the Guinness Book of World records fascinated him; he loved the biggest and the best of everything. (It was also an age where my heroes were still his heroes, but I digress.)

In the world of Shelby, the biggest and best was the Daytona Coupe, a special aerodynamically-bodied Cobra that was fantastically successful, beautiful, and rare. Only 6 were made, and at the time, the whereabouts of one of the cars was unknown. Grant was captivated by the idea of the missing Daytona. He was going to ask Mr. Shelby where it was.

We got to Goodwood and immediately I feared our plans for lunch were a fantasy. The place was heaving; hundreds of world-class cars of all types were everywhere. It was hard to move in the crowded paddock. I realized it was going to be hard to get a glimpse of Shelby, let alone have lunch. It was as if I planned to see Elvis at the Sands and have him catch my eye from the stage.

However, I had a son I didn’t want to disappoint, so I gathered up my courage and pushed my way close and gave Mr. Shelby a wave I hoped didn’t look too desperate.

Miracle of miracles, Mr. Shelby did indeed see us. He worked his way over, brought us into the VIP area and said it was perfect timing for lunch. I have to admit I was amazed. He commandeered an official car and we drove to a local pub. At every point, Mr. Shelby was mobbed by well-wishers and autograph seekers. He handled them all with a down-home charm, but he never let us forget we were part of his circle. It was like traveling with a real rock star.

We had a lovely lunch. Mr. Shelby was generous with his time, he paid special attention to Grant, who was a little star-struck, and it was a charming time.

As lunch was winding up, Grant hadn’t asked about the Daytona Coupe yet, so I said, “Mr. Shelby, Grant has a question he would like to ask you.” So he said, “Ask away, Grant”, and in a really small voice, he asked if he knew where the missing Daytona was.

I thought he would have had trouble hearing the question; I barely heard Grant’s shy voice. But sure enough, he had, and he leaned over close to Grant and said in a perfect conspiratorial whisper, “Why yes, Grant, I do know where that car is. A crazy lady owns it. She keeps in the garage of her house in California. But don’t worry, I’ll get it back one day.” And he added with a wink, “but don’t tell anybody!”

One of the things Carroll Shelby was great at was telling tall tales. The thing that made him different from most men was that his tall tales were all more or less true. But this time, I thought that he had told Grant a tall tale to impress him, quite successfully, I might add.

Here’s a photo from that lunch. Grant doesn’t remember much from being 7, but he sure remembers that day.

The best part comes about a year later. I read that a mentally disturbed woman in California had passed away. She was the daughter of Phil Spector’s bodyguard. And in her suburban garage, she had kept, for the past 30 years, the missing Daytona Coupe.

Just like Mr. Shelby had told Grant a year before. Stage whisper or not, he had told my son the straight truth. What a guy.

RIP, Carroll Shelby. They don’t make ‘em like you anymore, and the world is a poorer place for it.

The Arthur Murray Dance Party

December 29, 1957.

I especially love the introduction.

RIP Buddy Holly.