Tuesday, June 30, 2009

back to reality

Well, we've been home from our trip over a week, now- and I'm beginning to get back into the swing of things.
One of the things I've realized is that I need to continue to push Enercient forward. I can't just sit back and expect it to happen organically. If it is going to succeed as a viable company, I need to keep the tenacity and excitement level up, and keep setting goals to move the project forward.
We've signed up with some pretty incredible vendors and partners to bring a really nice product to market, but if we don't work to make sure that we follow through with our plans- we are merely dreaming. It is not reality until we put our plans and visions to work.
I heard in a sermon one time that "Vision without work is deception" meaning that you can "visioncast" and plan and dream all you want, but until you actually put feet to your words, you haven't actually "done" anything.
So the next steps are to create a line card, get some business cards printed, and get out there and start beating the pavement to move some product.
Wish me luck...

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Northumbria and north (er)

After being given a view from the roof of Langley Castle, We checked out, and Kevin (the same cab driver who dropped us off) took us back to the Hexham train station. We told him about our plans to drive north out of Newcastle, and he recommended that we stop in on Alnwick Castle, where several Harry Potter scenes were filmed, among other things.

We hired a car in Newcastle (actually it's a brand new Peugeot 308 hatchback that started with 8 miles on the odometer) and drove up the Northern Coast. We didn't know how far we'd get, or what we'd see- so the plan was to go as far north as we could go, while still getting back at a reasonable time.

We got onto the A1 and headed north. Getting behind the wheel of a car actually felt nice to me, sonce we've been all about the public transportation since we arrived here. Say what you want about energy conservation, the evils of the internal combustion engine, etc. One thing is quite clear to me once again- no matter how great the public transport system is- you still tend to spend a lot of time schlepping crap around. Anyway- luggage safely in the trunk (0r boot) of the car, we headed north.

We drove about 2 hours up the coast and saw a sign for the Bellhaven Brewery in Dunbar, and immediately headed for it. It turns out that you need to have a reservation for a tour, and the local pub wasn't open, so we headed down the coast, and soon found The Volunteer Arms, a proper Scottish pub overlooking the North Sea.

I got Haddock and Mel got Calamari- both were fabulous- and we both got a pint. I wouldn't call the locals friendly- but they weren't rude, and basically ignored us while we sat in the back of the pub and had our lunch.


The owners were nice, and asked several times if we liked the food, and gave us prompt service- but I suspect they'd pefer to serve the locals and leave the Yanks on the other side of the other ocean.

The Views of the north Sea were pretty neat, and the breaze off the coast gave the air a chill as we got back in the car and turned south. We took the A1 south, and stopped in at a few towns and roadside stops to take pictures of the beaches, various castle ruins and whatever highlights we could find. We realized that this could be a completely different trip over here, and another 1-2 weeks just visiting the coastal towns from Newcastle up.


Although the gardens and everything were closed at Alnwick, Mel did get a chance to hop out of the car and snap a few pics of the castle. It turns out that Anwick castle is quite the actor, having also been in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Elizabeth, and Black Adder.


For pictures of me laying on various hotel beds, more details and better photos overall, have a look at Mel's Blog. as well.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Tindale/ Tynedale Continued

Sunday, we spent the day in Hexham, the seat of the Tynedale local government. Apparently Tynedale is combining with several other local governments to found Northumberland county, but I don't think much will change for the region.

Hexham was a nice town, with a very old Abbey, shops, restaurants and pubs. One thing I noticed was that there is a local "building society" that seems to offer bonds on construction loans. I wonder what else we could screw up in America by doing that- at the same time, I wonder if it creates a better oversight for which construction projects are actually done since there are now bondholders watching these projects?

Yesterday we visisted Hadrain's wall and got a chance to see much of the northern countryside (from the bus). I found it interesting to see how that people seem to be proud of it- they don't view it as a hostile occupation, they view it as their link to classical history. The bus driver mentioned the "barbarians to the north" I wonder how the Scottish feel about it.

They mentioned the border reivers (raiding bandits who took advantage of various Scottish-English conflicts after the Roman Occupation) They were basically neighbors who stole from each other.

Last night we stayed in the Tindale room at Langley castle, which is a very cool 4-star hotel. We had an incredible full-course meal, and drinks in the seating room after. We had a chance to talk to (Colin?) on staff, who gave us a little history and recommended we take the castle tour this morning.
Langley belonged to a family that were "De Tindales" in the 100s but managed to change hands quite a few times. Apparently a Dr. Stewart Madnick- an American professor at MIT owns it now.
Today it's off to Newcastle, and possibly up the coast toward Scotland if we can figure out a way to hire a car and get going early.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

In search of a past

Mel and I decided to go to North England to check out Tynedale and Northumberland, and have a look at the region that was most probably the origin of the Tindale name. Tynedale simly means "valley where the river forks" so it is difficult to find out if this is where my name comes from exactly but in all likelihood this is the place.

The Tindale-Tyndale Trail in Tynedale

We flew into London, met a friend (Jen Balwin) and had lunch at a pub in Picadilly circus, and then caught a train in King's cross.

So we visited Corbridge yesterday (a very nice, beautiful country village)

We stayed at the Dyvel's Inn

and attended the Tynedale beer festival, at the Tynedale Rugby Football Club. (we might have to stop back by and get ourselves some official logo gear- the shop was closed during the festival)

It was off to Hexham today. Hexham has the look of a more European town, with it's tight streets, stone buildings, back alleys and courtyards- and it is a very nice place. We plan to attend a musical worship service at Hexham Abbey tonight, Hadrian's wall tomorrow, and off to Langley castle to stay tomorrow night.
Watch for postings on Brightkite and Twitter as we are able to find network and mobile service in transit!