Every Woman's Fantasy Man Ziplines From the Sydney Opera House!

Hugh Jackman gets a big thrill and delights thousands as he ziplines from the top of the Sydney's famed landmark. It has actually been renamed the "Oprah house' due to the filming of Ms. Winfrey's show which won't be broadcast until mid January. Mr. Jackman was apparently so overcome by his experience
that he applied the brake a little too late and had a bit of a crash landing. True to his manly image, he brushed himself off and the whole event added to the  showbiz spectacle.

It will be interesting to observe "the Oprah Effect" on Australian tourism after these shows hit the airwaves in over 145 countries. It is advertising that money can't buy and it couldn't happen to a more beautiful country. Being in Sydney and watching their news, one couldn't help but get caught up in the excitement of this Ozzie lovefest which included Nicole Kidman & Keith Urban, Russell Crowe and the late Steve Irwin's daughter, Bindy among others.

FLY Hobbs From Here To ANYWHERE

Sydney by United flight attendant Robert Gallant

Great news arrived on a flier in my Hobbs water bill! My favorite Hobbs agency , the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County has launched flyhobbs.com  What is so great is that one can now easily connect to Hobbs from the rest of the world. When I first discovered Hobbs, part of the appeal was that I could fly directly into Hobbs on a I.A.T.A. member airline.  That service was replaced by a smaller company that was slower, more expensive and offered no reciprocal airline agreements with the larger carriers. Starting March 3rd,  that all changes and I am thrilled to be able to once again fly directly into Hobbs connecting from major destinations all over the world.

There is a mistake on the website and flier that I must point out. ExpressJet is the regional airline that will serve Hobbs and they used to be under the umbrella of Continental Airlines. As of October 1, 2010; Continental was merged into United Airlines.  Therefore, it is United Express who will be serving HOB.
Great job by the EDC making all this happen but time to update the website!!!

Hobbs to Hollywood

Since I bought the house on eBay which was the topic of my first blog posting, I have been talking about the special community of Hobbs, New Mexico.

I moved there for a while and loved their great 'kick ass' country music.

Back in SoCal, I watched the Academy Awards especially enamored of the the film "Up in the Air" since I have followed the progress of the movie before it was filmed. The lead character played by George Clooney is named Ryan Bingham.  That Ryan is just a fictional character. The great coincidence is that a very real Ryan Bingham born in Hobbs was a very real Oscar winner that night. He wrote the song 'The Weary Kind' and won for best original song for the movie Crazy Heart. Ryan is a true and deserving artist that grew up with a lot of character building experiences which are reflected in his music.