Well I'm glad I checked the paperwork as my flight goes at 10.10 am,
So rule number one always make sure you know what time your flight departs

Have a fantastic time over there Graham.

Enjoy.



even the flight!

Danny

Sitting waiting at departures, those eagled eye'd will notive I'm posting this after my flight was meant to take off
Nothing seems to run smoothly sometimes as we have a 3 hour delay of the flight into Charlotte. My connecting flight did have a 4 hour gap so I'm still booked on the original Charlotte to Vegas flight as I have an hour and ten minutes to catch it so fingers crossed we will still get to Vegas on time at 19.50 Tuesday night

Hi All,
I'm sitting in a business centre at Charlotte airport writing this as yet again I've had a really exciting time travelling with my flights
So where to start, the flight wa delayed at gatwick for three hours but that still left me enough time with my connection as I had a four hour and ten minute window to connect with it. Flight was fine for the first six hours of a 8 hour 40 min flight although it was odd that you had to pay for some of your drinks and only got a basic meal although extra's we're available for a charge. First time on United States airline but on BA and virgin everything is complimentary. So got a bit fed up after six hours but with reading, I got Frank Skinner's new stand up book which is OK but not a riveting read oh and you had to pay for the headsets to listen to the films, very odd.
So we are over Charlotte airport and are told there will be a 15 minute delay while we circle due to thunderstorms and then a 15 minute delay on the tarmac till we can unload, so after 30 mins of circling we are informed tht we are off to a different airport to refuel as we are running low. We spend about 30mins on the ground at Greensville? to refuel which is only 60 miles from charlotte and in no time we are back in the air and at our destination at 7.30 which is five and a half hours late so no connection to Vegas so it's off to a hotel which took nearly two hours to get to with waiting for the shuttle and re booking my flight for this morning at 11.30 am. The quality inn was only a 5 minute drive from the airport but unfortunately in the night they had a power cut, you probably think I'm making this all up so how people managed to get out in the night as there was no emergency lighting I havn't got a clue as when it was light I could see hardly anything.
So I've missed Ralph Dewey's think tank which is why I came over a day early but at least I have some new experiences to share and I still have a smile on my face.
Las Vegas........here I come

note to self - never fly with Graham

Hope you get there OK

Smiggle, your not the only one that has said they would never fly with me
Still I did get here ok and spent a couple of hours participating in the think tank with Ralph Dewey and a few others and picked up a few neat idea's from the session.
Have just been to Bidou's class who is from France and it was most useful with some good idea's that are most useful for the real world, the concept was putting sculptures onto hats but while making them and telling a story which helped to lead your audiance up the garden path so to speak. The models not looking like anything so people struggled to try and guess what was being made and then at the end was the urica moment when it all came together, worth sitting in on the class as at the end he had a variation on a ball theme which had many applications for a face, turtle, camel, car etc etc

pleased you got there in the end. Sorry I made that jpke now about the flying being nothing to worry about but the airport was a different matter. I just got back from my trip to Wales but can't sleep so got up again. Hope the rest of your trip goes more smoothly Graham.

So the classes I went to yesterday we're Bidou, Ken Stillman, Patricia Bunnell and Mark Byrne.
All classes we're interesting and I'll do more of a write up when I get a few minutes. I have been taking some pictures but due to me having the new camera for some reason that is beyond me I can't download the disc to get the pictures onto my laptop so may need to upload these when I get home but just going to see if it will load up again now before I set of to the next class.

Good news Ed Chee has just sorted out the problem with the download and I now have the pictures on the laptop and will try and post some when I get a few minutes, this is embarrasing but I also had a card reader on my computer that I never knew about

Writing up the convention is very difficult to do as the majority of the lecturers are friends but I will try and be honest and give my views as I see things, so please note these are my views and may vary to others.

Ken Stillman - Thinking outside the box.

Ken had a few nice idea's with the betallic odd shapes, the best for me being the giraffe head mad from memory a small teddy bear head, this shape could also be used for a horse and unicorn. He also had a nice elephant made from the snowman shape.
It should be said that Ken got out of his sick bed to be at the convention as for the past 3/4 weeks he has been suffering with his health. He was even at the doctors the day before.
It was also not his day as for some reason whatever could go wrong on the day seemed to
Sometimes we all get these days but Ken kept going and a few good tips and ideas was passed on to those that attended.

Struggling with uploading the pictures as I've now re-sized them but they are being saved in a programme I cant seem to find on the lap top, I'll have to see if I can find Ed again

Patricia Bunnell - Bubble Belly Babies

Patricia went through some of her models from this DVD, Winnie the pooh, Eey-ore and a very good rabbit which was definately my favourite The class moved along at a slowish pace and Patricia has a very soft voice that definately needs to be projected or what we will do when she lectures in the UK later on in the year is to mic her up. She has plenty of great ideas to choose from and has done three different lectures here this week.

The last lecture I saw from day one was Mark Byrne - Bad to the balloon

Mark went through his persona as bad to the balloon and showed how he worked at parties moving quickly on and showing some excellent and very usable creations that are very usable in the real world. They we're all on hat's, Teddy on heart, braided hat, duck hat, mermaid, dolphin, superman, hulk, monkey up a tree, elephant and dragon. A nice class which surely no one could have left without getting a few good idea's from.