1971 Marshall Super Bass 100 valve head amp for sale

In a break from my usual mix of web, business and random related entries, I’d like to let you know that my 1971 Marshall Super Bass 100 valve head amp is currently for sale on eBay. The market for these things is probably in the low single figures worldwide, but if someone can give it a better home then I’d love to speak with you. contact me the usual way or respond through eBay.

The sale of this classic amp is being managed by my very good friend Milan Lad, who is a phenomenal musician.

Switching off

It seems like quite a few of my regular blogs reads are closing down. This is a shame, and the fact that these well-respected and very talented writers are hanging up their keyboards, so to speak, because of online abuse (sometimes of an extreme, disgusting and frightening nature) is an indictment on certain sectors of the online community.

Wherever groups of people gather you expect there to be a few idiots. I know, I’ve been an idiot many times. However when the tone of what’s being said turns from mere stupidity to extreme vulgarity and even disturbing threats, a line has been crossed. I wish everyone who has been adversely affected by the goings-on around the web over the last few weeks the very best, and encourage them to not lose touch with the genuine friends they have made here.

I’ll be keeping this blog going, one of the advantages of being a nobody is you’re not set up as a target. However with such a lot on my plate at the moment I doubt I’ll be breaking any writing records.

The last few weeks

The last few weeks have been, to say the least, hectic. As well as the new projects and job I’ve started we’ve had a couple of special events happening.

The marriage blessing cakeIt’s not often you get the opportunity to throw a really BIG party, and we didn’t waste our chance when our youngest chgild Reuben was baptised/christened (call it what you will) and our marriage blessed at our church a couple of weeks ago. It was, to say the least, a fantastic day. We had over 140 people at the church service, and about 60 came to a restaurant for a meal afterwards.

The christening cakeWe really tried to make it a special day, and many people have said to us since how much they enjoyed the church service. And, of course, the food went down well, too. Rather than plaster pictures of us here which would no doubt lead to cries of consternation, here are a couple of pictures of the cakes that people very kindly made for us.

Boo Hewerdine from behindThe other event we went to was a friends 40th birthday party. He’d booked one of his all-time songwriting heroes, Boo Hewerdine, and had got a band together. However a few days before the drummer broke her wrist, so he called me in as backup. It was a really enjoyable gig, and I highly recommend downloading the free MP3s from Boos site – and buying some of his CDs, too. Here’s a little picture of my view of Boo from behind the drums.

So after the excitement of Reubens first Christmas and all those parties, it’s nose to the grindstone to get projects finished in time for deadlines. Which means I shouldn’t sit here any longer writing this. Toodle-pip.

A new job

I have a new job, as I announced late last year. I actually started a couple of weeks ago, and so far it’s going very well. Eventually the website will have something on it, but for now you just get a nice logo (made a bit more Web 2.0-ish by me).

Figure Out logo

I would tell you what we’re doing, but it probably wouldn’t interest a lot of you. Still, we got a little write-up in the Money Marketing magazine. 2Plan is the company we’re building software for, by the way.

The directors were unavailable for comment, but Steve my fellow developer had this to say:

Are you going to make a cup of tea yet?

Which is nice, I think you’ll agree.

End of year roundup…

This is a traditional new years eve for me, involving a couple of bottles of beer, Jools Holland and watching hundreds of fireworks explode across the valley. Living at the top of a hill with such a good view is great by day and by night.

This last year has been pretty noteworthy on a number of fronts. For one thing our son Reuben was born, we got officially hitched, and we made a new home for ourselves here at The Mill. I also did some major things at work, the biggest of which was handing my notice in – I start my new job in a few days time. All in all 2006 will remain in my memory for being the year I felt I’d finally come out of the tunnel into the light, started a new path properly and left the past behind. It feels good, and I have high hopes for 2007.

There’s be a lot of changes around here over the next few weeks, but I’ll let you know about all those as they happen. I’ll just finish 2006 by thanking you for reading and wish you all the very best for the coming year.